


Coming Out

by awgaskarth0805



Category: All Time Low (Band)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-18 08:24:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21941128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awgaskarth0805/pseuds/awgaskarth0805
Summary: Alex comes out to the rest of the band.
Kudos: 4





	Coming Out

**Author's Note:**

> This is a request!

Something that the boys in All Time Low were grateful for, was their very tight knit friendship. Having known each other since their early high school days really helped with this, and they believed that it helped them to have one of the best bands in the industry. Due to this, they didn’t really have secrets, they told each other everything. If something wasn’t explicitly said, it was figured out, since they could all read each other very easily by now.   
They were currently about halfway through a tour and it was clear that the vibe was off. ever since the first night, Alex hadn’t really been acting like himself. As much as his friends wanted to know why, they knew that it was best to not push Alex into telling them. It was two weeks after the tour started, and they were set to play in Nashville, Tennessee, which they were all really excited for, since it was one of their favorite cities to play. Alex was in the front lounge on his phone when Jack came to get some breakfast.  
“Hey Alex, what’s up?” Jack asked, pouring himself a bowl of cereal.  
“Not much,” Alex mumbled, not looking up from his phone.  
“Okay, um, have you eaten anything? I can pour you some cereal if you want some,” Jack offered.  
“I ate something, but thanks,” Alex said, still not looking away from his phone. Jack knew that something was off with Alex and had been wanting to ask him what it was for the longest time, but there was never a good time to do so. Just as Jack was going to try to ask, Rian and Zack walked into the front lounge.  
“Alright, it’s Nashville day, boys!” Rian exclaimed with a big smile.   
“Hell yeah, playing here is always so much fun, isn’t it, Alex?” Jack asked, trying to lighten Alex’s mood some.  
“Yeah, for sure,” Alex said quietly. His bandmates all exchanged confused looks before Rian and Zack grabbed some breakfast.  
“So, we’ll be at the venue in a couple of hours, then we have soundcheck. What should we do after that?” Zack asked the group.  
“We could go eat somewhere. We don’t have a meet and greet today, so that might be fun,” Zack suggested.  
“Good idea, that’ll be fun. What do you think, Alex?” Jack asked, desperately trying to get through to his friend.  
“Um, sure. I may not go, but I’ll decide later,” Alex replied.  
“Why wouldn’t you want to go?” Zack asked.  
“It’s nothing. I’m going to go to my bunk until we get to the venue,” Alex said, getting up and leaving the front.  
“Guys, what the fuck is up with Alex?” Jack asked his friends.  
“You don’t know either? I would’ve expected you of all people to have the slightest idea,” Rian replied.  
“I have no clue. We should go talk to him,” Jack suggested.   
“No, we shouldn’t force him to talk about whatever it is. When he’s ready, he’ll tell us, or the time to ask will present itself,” Rian replied.  
“But I want to know what it is,” Jack whined.  
“We do, too, dude, but I don’t think that pestering him is a great idea. We just have to be patient,” Zack replied.  
“I guess you’re right. How long until we get to the venue?” Jack asked.  
“Just a couple of hours,” Zack replied. For the next couple hours, everyone mostly kept to themselves. Rian, Zack and Jack briefly talked about some possible setlist changes but didn’t want to solidify anything until Alex heard their ideas and approved of them.   
Alex didn’t leave his bunk until the buss pulled into the venue’s parking lot and didn’t speak to anyone as they walked inside. Soundcheck went mostly fine, everything sounded good, but it didn’t have the fun, lightheartedness that it typically did. Once they were done, they all turned towards each other.  
“That was a good soundcheck! Now, I saw a pizza place down the road, should we eat there?” Rian suggested. Jack and Zack both said yes, then the three of them turned to look at Alex.  
“How does that sound, dude?” Jack asked his friend.  
“Um, I think I’m just going to stay in the green room,” Alex replied.  
“Are you sure? We can get something other than pizza if you’re not feeling it,” Rian suggested.  
“Nah, I kind of just want to chill there for now,” Alex replied.  
“I can stay with you,” Jack offered.  
“I was actually going to call my mom, so I’ll just stay here by myself,” Alex said, turning and walking away before anyone else could say anything.  
“That was weird,” Zack mumbled.  
“Okay, screw what I said earlier, I think we should try to talk to him, but after the show,” Rian stated.  
“I hope he’s okay,” Jack said, sounding as concerned as he felt.  
“Me too. For now, I guess we should go eat. There’s not much else we can do right now,” Rian replied. The three of them put their instruments away then walked over to the pizza restaurant. They tried to act like everything was fine, but it was hard to just ignore how Alex had been acting.   
Once they were done, they found something to do in the venue to entertain themselves until it was showtime. They avoided the green room, wanting to give Alex his space. Once it was time to go on, the three of them were standing by the stage entrance when Alex walked over to them and grabbed his guitar.  
“You ready to go on, man?” Rian asked with a lighthearted smile.  
“Yeah, I guess,” Alex replied unenthusiastically. The stage tech told them that it was time for them to go on, so the four of them ran onstage and started into their first song. The show went well, and Alex acted like nothing was wrong, as he’d been doing for the entire tour so far. He kept the crowd energized and exchanged some banter with Jack. After they finished Dear Maria, the four of them thanked the crowd and walked offstage. Alex ran to the bus before anyone could stop him.  
“I think he’s on the bus. Let’s go there and see what’s up with him,” Jack said.  
“This will be interesting,” Rian mumbled as the three of them walked out of the venue and onto the bus. They quietly went to the back lounge and found Alex talking on the phone with his head in his hands.  
“I know they’re my best friends, but I don’t know how to tell them this. It’s not really that I think they wouldn’t want to be friends anymore, but I feel like it’s so weird and I don’t even understand it, and I-“ Alex stopped talking, listening to the voice on the phone,  
“I don’t even know if I want to tell them while we’re on tour, like we all share a small space and I don’t want them to be weirded out for the rest of the time we’re on the road. I hate-“ Alex looked up and saw his friends standing in front of him, all with looks of concern on their faces.  
“Mom, I think I’m going to have to call you back. Bye,” Alex said, hanging up his cell phone.  
“How long have you guys been standing there?” Alex asked, sounding a bit embarrassed.  
“Long enough to know that you have something to tell us,” Zack stated.  
“What’s going on, man? You’ve not been acting like yourself ever since we started this tour,” Jack said as the three of them sat down around Alex on the couch.  
“Okay, so I’ve been keeping a couple of things from you guys, and they’re kind of hard to talk about,” Alex started.  
“We’re not going to judge you, Alex, we just want to help you through whatever it is,” Rian replied.  
“Okay, well, to start, I broke up with my girlfriend back home,” Alex said.  
“I’m so sorry to hear that, man,” Jack said, putting a hand on Alex’s back.  
“Yeah, she seemed like a great girl,” Zack added.  
“She was, but I didn’t want to keep leading her on,” Alex mumbled.  
“Leading her on? Do you like someone else?” Rian asked.  
“Well, not exactly. Not right now, at least,” Alex replied.  
“Did you fall out of love or something?” Zack asked.  
“I still care about her, and I feel like shit about all of this, but I was lying. This is the part that’s hard to talk about,” Alex said, trailing off.  
“It’s us, Alex. We’re all best friends, there’s no need to be nervous. Whatever it is, we’ll get through it together,” Jack stated, a serious look on his face. Alex took a deep breath before speaking again.  
“Guys, I’m gay,” Alex stated. His stomach cramped up some from anxiety, but he took deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down.  
“You’re gay? You’ve always gone out with girls, ever since your first relationship when we were all fifteen,” Rian pointed out.  
“I know, but it’s true. When I had my first girlfriend, I thought that I did really like girls. When I was with her, it didn’t feel right, but I thought that was just because I’d never dated anyone before and was nervous. Eventually, we broke up, and I got with the girl I just broke up with, because I felt weird and thought that would fix everything. She was a great girl, but I was never really attracted to her in that way, and I didn’t know why. When we were seniors, I started to come to terms with the fact that I found boys attractive, I didn’t want to be gay, so I just stayed with my now ex. I wanted to convince myself that I was straight, but it didn’t work,” Alex explained, starting to tear up some.  
“Hey, don’t cry, Alex. I promise that everything is okay. The only thing that I’m wondering, is why you didn’t tell us before?” Jack asked.  
“I was embarrassed. You guys always talk about hot girls and stuff, and I’ve always hated that I can’t really relate. I also thought you guys would look at me differently if you knew, like I was weird or broken or something,” Alex admitted.  
“Alex, we’re your best friends, we wouldn’t do that,” Zack said.  
“Zack’s right. Besides, we don’t care who you like, we just want you to be happy,” Jack added.  
“We’re here for you, Alex. There’s nothing that’ll ever change that,” Rian said, making Alex smile some.  
“So, you really won’t look at me differently now because of this?” Alex asked.  
“Hell no, dude. I’m just glad you told us,” Jack said as Rian and Zack murmured in agreement.  
“I’m sorry for keeping this form you guys for so long,” Alex said.  
“It’s okay, I’m sure we would’ve done the same,” Zack replied.  
“Now, are you going to go back to being the happy, carefree Alex that we all became friends with? We’ve missed that guy,” Jack said, making everyone smile.  
“I think so. Thank you, guys, for listening, understanding, for everything,” Alex said back.  
“Of course, dude,” Rian said.  
“Let me go get something,” Jack said, quickly getting up. He came back with a bottle of wine, and four paper cups. He gave everyone a cup, then poured the wine.  
“Cups up, guys,” Jack instructed.  
“What’s this for?” Alex asked.  
“I want to raise a toast to you, Alex. You’re our best friend, the glue of this band, and we’ll always be here for you. To Alex!” Jack exclaimed, as they all clinked their cups and took a sip. They spent the rest of their night talking, drinking, and happy to be in each other’s company.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this is a request from my Tumblr! I spent a little more time on this one than usual, because I wanted to portray everything as well as I could, and I hope this turned out okay! I have a Christmas story that I wrote last year and didn't post going up tomorrow, then a few more requests to close out the week. I only have one more to draft, then I'll be all out! That being said, please send more in! I absolutely love writing them, and you guys always have such great ideas!! I hope you guys liked this one, and are excited for the Christmas one that'll be up tomorrow! Lots of love, Liv.


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